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Troubleshooting document approval workflow in the web client
Who is this article for?
Users responsible for approving documents.
Document Respond permissions are required.
This article provides a solution for an issue where a document approval workflow stops, preventing subsequent users from approving the document.
This issue is specific to the Web Client and often occurs when approval templates use Reference Groups.
1. Issue
When a document is submitted for approval using a multi-step workflow, the second user (or any user after the first) is unable to approve the document.
When the user opens the document and navigates to the Approval tab, the Add Approval Response button is missing or disabled, and the workflow cannot proceed. This happens because the first user was able to incorrectly save their response as 'N/A'.
2. Solution
This is a known issue (QPL-31887) in the Web Client (v7.8.1.0) that is scheduled to be resolved in version 7.9.
To ensure the workflow continues, all approvers must select a valid response.
- When approving a document, select either Accept or Reject from the response dropdown.
- Do not select N/A. Saving this response will halt the workflow.
How to fix a stuck workflow
If a workflow is already stuck, the user who selected 'N/A' must return to the document, edit their response, and select either Accept or Reject. This will unlock the workflow and allow the next approver to proceed.
No Issue
This issue is not present in the Windows Client.
The Windows client correctly requires users to select either Accept or Reject and does not provide an 'N/A' option during approval. Document workflows, including those using Reference Groups, will function as expected.